we keep this love in a photograph

Chapter 46

The first month passed by shockingly fast, Jennie's injuries fading to nothing - except for the cast she still had to wear - and Thanksgiving coming and going with a quiet dinner at Alice and Ashley's with a few of their friends. Jennie invited Jisoo and her daughter, Jess, and Irene and Suho brought Rosie's favourite chocolate pecan pie which invited a pang of longing as she wished her fiancée was there with her to enjoy the dinner and company.

The fact that they were a quarter of the way through Rosie's deployment was a cause for quiet celebration, or at the very least a small consolation for not being able to see her every day. It never got easier for Jennie to adjust to not kissing her good morning or good night, to not hold hands as they walked down the street or hear her singing drift through their house. Perhaps it should've felt weird that she'd grown so accustomed to Rosie taking up so much space in her life, where previously there had been a giant hole of nothing and no one, but it never felt that way; it only ever felt wrong to her. Jennie had been good at being alone, but now it was completely intolerable, and she often found herself eyeing Alice and Ashley and their easy comfort and availability to each other with envy.

Looking forward, the three months stretching out before her felt like an eternity, and it was only in hindsight that she was able to find comfort in how fast time actually passed. Before she knew it, it was J Corporations's annual Christmas party, weeks of Karina's frantic planning coming to fruition with the employees of the San Francisco office and all the local subsidiaries, benefactors and investors finally gathering in the open gallery of the San Francisco Museum.

She'd had her hair and makeup professionally done and had been driven to the venue early, wearing a deep green wrap dress beneath her camel overcoat, lips a neutral shade and hair elegantly waved. Security waved her in and she found Karina talking into her earpiece as she directed waitstaff and ticked things off her clipboard.

"I do hope you're planning on clocking off tonight," Jennie laughed as she approached her, slipping her phone into her purse and snapping it closed. "You're also an employee, in case you've forgotten."

"Miss Kim," Karina greeted her. "You look nice."

Smiling slightly as she tried to lower the cuff of her sleeve further over the offending cast, Jennie murmured her thanks. Jerking her head towards the almost empty room, ancient artefacts behind cordoned off ropes and the blue twilight seeping in through the skylight giving the place an old feeling, Jennie wrinkled her nose.

"Come and get a drink."

"I-"

"They'll figure out the rest of it."

She swept through to the next room, giving everything an appraising look before she made for the bar. Ordering two vodka cranberries, she handed one off to Karina and took a sip of her own, watching as a few early-comers trickled in. Jisoo was one of them and Alice and Ashley arrived shortly afterwards, a little in awe at the grandeur of hosting a Christmas party inside a museum a sort of novelty for them.

"I'm glad you guys came," Jennie said with a small smile, eyes flitting around the room as more people started to arrive. "Now, it'll be tolerable."

Alice nudged her, "it's a party , you should have fun. It's kind of a requirement for these sorts of things, you know."

Jisoo came up behind them after fetching herself a glass of wine and clapped a hand down on Jennie's shoulder as she sighed morosely. "Ah, but that's just the thing; Jennie prefers to watch from the sidelines and scowl at the staff. It's a bit off-putting having your boss stare at you like that while you're trying to wolf down a dozen hors d'oeuvres on the sly."